Just the Two of Us: Cooperstown has much to offer as a weekend getaway

Cruise Otsego Lake aboard the Glimmerglass Queen. James Fenimore Cooper likely would have approved of the name.— Photo by Elizabeth Floyd Mair

Boating, not Baseball!

By Elizabeth Floyd Mair/EXPLORE

Forget baseball. Even if you don’t care about America’s pastime, Cooperstown is still worth a trip, for the old-style village ambience, the unique museums and shops, and the lake that James Fenimore Cooper called Glimmerglass.

Downtown Cooperstown is a walker’s village. It’s small and quaint, but you may well find yourself going back and forth on the same streets as you suddenly remember an interesting shop you want to revisit. And if you plan on heading down a side street to the easily accessible lake, it’s a pretty fair downhill slope, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes.

Or you can save your feet by hopping on the trolleys you see everywhere; an all-day pass is just $2, and it’s available from the driver. In fall, the trolleys run all day, from 8:30 am to 5 pm, but only on weekends.

Cooperstown has a number of interesting stores mixed in among the shops selling baseball paraphernalia. Little Bo’tique has cute clothes and toys for the little ones you left at home. Line Drives and Lipstick has handbags and an array of baseball-themed jewelry, including the exclusive silver or silver-and-gold Cooperstown Baseball Bracelet designed by the owners. It also carries various high-end yarns; a knitting group apparently meets weekly at the store. Cooper Country Crafts, at the end of a stone path down a narrow alleyway, is a co-op that sells only locally made items, including jewelry, stained glass, pottery, quilts, and wood carvings. The store is staffed by the artisans themselves. Christmas Around the Corner carries unusual ornaments and toys. If you’re there on a Saturday, the Farmers’ Market right off Main Street near Doubleday Field is a wonderful place to get fresh fruit, vegetables, and artisanal foods. Open year-round, it’s the only indoor and heated farmers’ market in the area.

Coopers Country Crafts is a co-op that sells only locally made items.

Those interested in getting a museum experience beyond the Baseball Hall of Fame will not be disappointed in Cooperstown. The Fenimore Art Museum has an impressive collection of folk art, Native American art and decorative art, while the Farmers’ Museum, a 19th-century historic village created from buildings gathered from around the state, shows what life was like for New Yorkers in the 1800s. And there’s Hyde Hall, a gracious 19th-century mansion set on the shore of Otsego Lake, open for tours 10 am to 4 pm on the hour through Halloween. Hyde Hall is an example of early American architectural grandeur that “The New Yorker” has called “one of the two or three greatest houses in America,” offers a rich collection of furniture, paintings, and decorative art works, many original to the home.

For those who are on vacation but still don’t want to miss their workout, the Clark Sports Center is a great place to spend a morning or afternoon. It’s a short drive from Main Street — almost within walking distance, but not quite — and it’s like a fitness club on steroids. Ten dollars gets you a day pass that allows you to take part in anything the center offers, which includes: a 30-foot indoor rock climbing wall, squash and racquetball courts, an indoor track, basketball courts, bowling lanes, a lap swimming pool and separate diving pool, and classes in, for instance, spinning, yoga, and Pilates.

After your workout, you won’t mind sitting. What better spot than on the lake aboard the Glimmerglass Queen lake cruise boat. You can board the boat at the docks near the Lake Front Hotel. Cruises last about an hour and travel about halfway down the lake’s nine-mile length and back. The boat heads back after passing a 60-foot-tall miniature 11th-century-style castle that juts out into the water, built by capitalist Edward Clark to “beautify the lake.”

In his Leatherstocking Tales, James Fenimore Cooper — whose father William founded the village — called Otsego Lake “Glimmerglass,” apparently because the water is sometimes so calm in the morning and evening that it looks like a sheet of glass reflecting the old-growth forest all around.

A miniature 11th-century castle can be seen during the Glimmerglas Queen cruise. — Photo by Elizabeth Floyd Mair.

If you, like me, feel the lake is the best part of Cooperstown, you may want to stay at one of the cabin-and-motel establishments perched right at lake’s edge along Route 80, a few miles from downtown. Lake ‘N Pines Motel, with its kidney-shaped outdoor pool, looks like an artifact from a 1960s childhood, but it has free wifi and cable TV in each room. Its docks stretch into the lake, offering guests views that can’t be beat, and free paddleboats for guests.

Bayside Inn and Marina next door has cabins and motel rooms for rent, and free kayaks. Check the calendar, though, because Bayside Inn closes altogether after Columbus Day weekend. The docks at Lake ‘N Pines Motel close then too and the boats come in, although the motel itself keeps operating through the end of November.

For those who prefer to stay closer to downtown, a number of casually elegant bed and breakfasts are within walking distance. The White House Inn, located just around the corner from Main Street on Chestnut, comes recommended by various merchants in town. It seems clear that the friendly and personable innkeeper Ed Landers has to be part of the reason.

Landers and his wife Margery put up the families of inductees during the Hall of Fame weekend each year. And apparently at other times too, because during my recent visit, Ed introduced me to Hall of Famer Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs, who was staying at the inn with his wife and mother.

Landers says Cooperstown is unique because it combines the life of a very small lakeside village with a sophisticated edge in terms of the level of its museums and restaurants. And fall is especially beautiful, he says. “The mountains here are about the same latitude and elevation as in Vermont, so you have the leaves changing color,” he says. “The hills actually come down and kiss the lake.”

Another inn that comes highly recommended is Main Street Bed and Breakfast, which has just three rooms to let. As at White House Inn, a formal breakfast, included in the price of the stay, is served each morning, although at Main Street Bed and Breakfast the dining area is much smaller and more intimate. I enjoyed leafing through the cache of historical books in the front sitting room of Susan Streek’s inn, including Main Street Cooperstown: A Mile of Memories, with historical black-and-white photos of the businesses that once lined downtown. Streek, who’s been running the B&B for 25 years now, made me feel instantly at home when she proudly introduced me to her pet, a lion-headed rabbit, who was indeed a regal-looking creature, with tufts of silky hair sticking up from his head like a pompadour.

Experience the life of a 19th-century New Yorker at the Farmers' Museum historic village. — Photo courtesy Otsego County Tourism Office

And of course no story would be complete without mentioning the iconic Otesaga Hotel and its smaller and very lovely affiliate right on Main Street, the Cooper Inn.

The food options are plentiful in Cooperstown. Alex & Ika is a restaurant quiet enough for conversation and with enough of a “cool” factor to make you think you’re in Brooklyn or maybe Tokyo. The menu is as international as the owners, Englishman Alex Webster and his Swedish ex-wife Ika Fognell. Webster is high-energy and a bit scruffy around the edges; dressed all in khaki, he is reminiscent of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. He recommends the star anise roast duck (“It used to be called ‘duck confit,’” he says, but too many people asked what ‘confit’ was”) or the sesame crusted wild salmon, which sits on a bed of odon noodles, arugula, cucumbers, pickled ginger, and toasted cashews flavored with a sweet tamari and ginger oil sauce.

When his own lunch of sesame-crusted salmon arrives, he mentions that he “designed” the dish. “So you’re the chef, then?” I ask. He scrutinizes his business card. “It says here that I’m the ‘chef owner,’ which is actually a lot more fun. I spent years in kitchens slicing and dicing. Now I get to open restaurants and design the dishes.” I try the lighter sesame noodle salad, which is basically his dish without the salmon, and it’s a wonderful combination of tastes, a little Thai and a little bit Japanese.

Other restaurants that I would like to try on another visit are Nicoletta’s Italian Café, across from Doubleday Field and open for fine dining every evening from 4 pm; Cooperstown Diner, a vintage-style diner car where the smell of syrup hangs in the air; and trattoria Bocca Osteria, less than five minutes’ drive from Main Street on Route 28.

The Otesaga Hotel
60 Lake Street
607-547-9931
Amenities include use of the hotel’s Leatherstocking Golf Course (greens fees apply), fitness center, and heated outdoor pool (open through the end of November). One-day discount passes to the Clark Sports Center are available. Dine at the hotel’s main dining room or Hawkeye Bar & Grill.

The Cooper Inn
15 Chestnut Street
(607) 547-2567
Guests at this smaller affiliate of the Otesaga are offered all the same amenities as guests at the Otesaga, including dining and fitness options at the hotel.

The Glimmerglass Queen
10 Fair Street
607-547-9511
Leaves from the docks at the Lake Front Hotel Tuesday through Sunday at 11, 1, 3, and 5. Stops running after Columbus Day cooperstownlakefronthotel.com